15of 24Artists and society folks arrive for the multimedia show on May 29, 1966.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

16of 24The music of the Mothers was much more danceable than that of the Velvet Underground at the show on May 29, 1966, Chronicle society writer Joan Chatfield-Taylor noted.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

17of 24The society crowd put together creative outfits to fit in with the pop audience on May 29, 1966.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

18of 24A society couple came dressed in their rummage-sale best for Andy Warhol’s “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” on May 29, 1966.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

19of 24John Wasserman interviewed Andy Warhol and Nico before their “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” show for a story in the May 23, 1966, Chronicle.Photo: The Chronicle 1966

20of 24The long hair on this Fillmore patron stood out at the multimedia show on May 29, 1966.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

21of 24People arrive on May 29, 1966, dressed to fit into the pop scene as defined by Andy Warhol.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

23of 24Nico would front the Velvet Underground at “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” on May 29, 1966.Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

24of 24The Feb. 23, 1987, Chronicle covers the death of Andy Warhol the previous day. He was 58 and had suffered from an irregular heartbeat.Photo: The Chronicle 1987

When you think Andy Warhol, you think New York City. But in May 1966, the pop art impresario brought his show to San Francisco, and The Chronicle was there to capture the moment — and critique the experience.

The paper sent a music writer, a society writer and a photographer to cover the one-of-a-kind multimedia event at the Fillmore Auditorium, and a recent trip to the archive turned up photo negatives from the night of the show. It’s likely these images haven’t been seen for more than 50 years.

Warhol’s multimedia project was called the “Exploding Plastic Inevitable,” and the performers were various “superstars” from the Factory, the art collective that he ran in Midtown Manhattan. The show included screenings of Warhol’s films, accompanied by music performed by the Velvet Underground, fronted by Nico, and the band Mothers, an early version of the Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Artistic dancing and performances by Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga also helped spice up the night.

An icon of the art world coming to San Francisco was a big story. Chronicle writer John Wasserman was the first to interview Warhol a few days before the “EPI” event. “The show is so simple, there’s nothing to explain or understand,” he quoted the artist as saying.

Warhol also weighed in on what he said creates pop art: “A ‘pop’ person is like a vacuum that eats up everything. He’s made up from what he’s seen. ... Television has done it, you don’t have to read anymore. Books will go out, television will stay. Movies will go out, television will stay. And that’s why people are becoming plastic.”

Nico, the singer-actor, tried to clarify that statement: “We have a gratified personality,” she was quoted as saying. “Everything is just there, we don’t have to fight for anything. And that’s the way it should go — it would make things easier. There shouldn’t be a battle all the time, constant competition. You understand what I mean?”

Um, sure.

Chronicle columnist Merla Zellerbach also had her turn to interview Warhol. She described him as having a kind of soft-flowing velvety speech, devoid of depth and emotion. The reporter observed that Warhol rarely smiled or emerged from a doll-like trance. “California will be the first state to go nude,” he cooed to her. “I think it’s wonderful. The people are gorgeous here. The scenery’s so gorgeous. People are cleaner and more gorgeous than anywhere else.”

(We couldn’t agree more.)

Dig deep into Chronicle Vault

Read hundreds of historical stories, see thousands of archive photos and sort through 153 years of classic Chronicle front pages at SFChronicle.com/vault.

Read More

Despite the fawning words about California and Warhol signing a soup can label for Zellerbach, The Chronicle’s Wasserman wasn’t impressed with the show. He wrote that “EPI” was “nothing more than a bad condensation of all the bum trips of the Trips Festival that January” in San Francisco.

“The worst thing is that it was noncreative and hence not artistic. It was not new at all. Everything but the whips has been done better here.”

Artists and scenesters arrive for Andy Warhol’s “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” show at the Fillmore Auditorium on May 29, 1966.

Photo: Bill Young / The Chronicle 1966

More from Chronicle Vault

•Going gonzo: It seems like an appropriate time to celebrate the Tubes, one of San Francisco’s weirdest bands of all time.

Bill Van Niekerken is the Library Director of the San Francisco Chronicle. He does research for reporters and editors and manages the photos, negatives and text archives. He has a weekly column “From the Archive”, that focuses on photo coverage of historic events. For this column Bill scans and publishes 20-30 images from photos and negatives that haven’t been seen in many years.

Bill started working at the Mercury News in 1980, when nothing in news libraries was digital. Research was done using paper clippings, and cameras shot film. He moved to the Chronicle in 1985, just as the library was beginning their digital text archive.